Besides the fear that wearable technology equipped with cameras can put any bystanders at risk of being recorded without their knowledge (one bar in Seattle has preemptively banned the device to protect patrons’ privacy) several holes in Glass’ security put the wearer’s privacy at risk as well.

As reported by The Guardian, Google Glass does not utilize a PIN authentication system like those permitted on other Android devices. The absence of a PIN based security system puts the device at risk of data and information theft if it falls into the wrong hands.

Santa Barbara-based programmer and Glass beta tester, Jay Freeman, reported that he had rooted the device by opening the Debug menu – an area that is typically only accessible on Android devices with a PIN. Freeman identified the risks of this flaw in the device:

“Even if you wear Glass constantly, you are unlikely to either sleep or shower while wearing it; most people, of course, probably will not wear it constantly: it is likely to be left alone for long periods of time. If you leave it somewhere where someone else can get it, it is easy to put the device into Debug Mode using the Settings panel and then use adb access to launch into a security exploit to get root.

“The person doing this does not even need to be left alone with the device: it would not be difficult to use another Android device in your pocket to launch the attack (rather than a full computer). A USB “On-The-Go” cable could connect from your pocket under your shirt to your right sleeve. With only some momentary sleight-of-hand, one could “try on” your Glass, and install malicious software in the process.”

Glass’s feature of being worn and used to record at the same time carries serious security implications as well. There are countless ways the gadget can be used against its owner. For example, privacy and safety risks range from being recorded inconspicuously to having your location tracked, while theft possibilities, like recording an ATM PIN as it’s entered, are also boundless.

After the first presidential debate, we showed you apps that can help you stay informed on the candidates’ positions and standings as they campaign through the last few weeks before the election.

This week, not only can you keep track of their records, lies and flip flops, you can also gauge how their performance in the debate will influence voters’ opinions – in real time.

During the debate tonight, the NetBase 2012 Election Mood Meter will poll Twitter every 10 seconds to determine exactly what viewers are thinking about the candidates’ last statement or gesture.

As seen in the vice-presidential and first presidential debates, the emotions linked with the rhetoric of all the candidates had a great impact on who viewers thought won. Did Biden’s facial expressions hurt or help his ticket? Were Romney’s arm movements signs of enthusiasm or aggression?

Voter reaction to the candidate’s body language can be just as important as their reaction to what was said. And what better way to view those impressions than in real-time observations of engaged viewers on Twitter.

According to Forbes, “A test that NetBase ran during the Biden/Ryan brawl revealed a number of interesting mood swings for voters on Twitter (e.g., the positive reaction to Ryan’s closing remarks) that may have gone unnoticed” by traditional analysts.

The real-time tracking of viewers’ reaction is evidence of how technology is changing the way people interact and participate in national politics.

Will you be tweeting during tonight’s debate? Try out the Mood Meter and see how your tweets compare to the Twitter-verse at large. Then share your findings in the comment section below.

If you want to keep track of the candidates during this final head-to-head stretch in the campaign, International Business Times has compiled five apps that can help you monitor the candidates’ records, their standing in the polls and how much of what they’re saying is actually true:

WP Politics: This Washington Post app for the iPad details both candidates’ views on certain issues. It also features an interactive map that shows presidential election results across the nation since 1789. There is a free version available in the App Store and a $3 edition that includes access to political blogs and other content.

NBC Politics: MSNBC has created an iPad application to keep readers informed with a steady flow of political news. The description boasts that users will get “every aspect of the political landscape” with this free app. Features include a tip sheet, a battleground map, video coverage, live election results and more.

PolitiFact: Available on Android and iOS platforms, this app provides you with a digital fact-check service. PolitiFact can aid you in your own political debates, offering the ability to check the accuracy of politicians’ statements. The $2 apps gives users a Truth Index, the Truth-O-Meter, the Flip-O-Meter, the Obameter and the GOP Pledge-O-Meter. Don’t forget to check out the other app from the makers of Politico, Settle It!, which can alert your debate partner if his or her information is wrong.

2012 Map: The Presidential Election App: This $2 election app keeps users up to date on state polls and includes a live map that is refreshed daily. Historic voting maps are also available through this app, dating back to George Washington.

Election-2012: This free app lets you follow local and national coverage from Hearst Television outlets throughout the nation. Photos, videos, fact-checking and other media services are updated daily.

For the first time, YouTube will also be streaming the presidential debates and will air pre-coverage beginning at 8 p.m. EDT.

In honor of Google’s 14^th birthday, Mashable published a beginner’s guide to Gmail. Now that it’s securely in its teens, you can finally feel comfortable closing that AOL Account you’ve been hanging on to since 1998, and make the switch to Gmail.

The guide is great for beginners and longtime Gmail users, who want to brush up their mailbox and explore all of the features Google offers.

Everything Under the Cloud                                                        September 2012

The High Cost of Recovery

Small to medium size businesses are what keep this country running. Unfortunately, for many of their business owners, budgetary needs force them to make cuts that larger corporations do not have to consider. These cuts often hit IT services and result in security decisions that ultimately cost the company even more money. Find out more… 

Seven Ways to Keep Your Small Business Secure

If you own and operate a small business, lowering costs is an important part of keeping your company in the black. But cutting costs on your IT budget could inadvertently compromise your company’s security. Even though small businesses may not have all of the resources that large corporations do, they are still just as vulnerable to the same security threats. Read more…

Managed Services Providers Help You with Network Monitoring

Small businesses rely on the computer networks within their organizations. Can you imagine running your business without being able to connect with each member of your team? Network monitoring is necessary to keep your technology operational and functioning in order for your business to carry out its daily activities. Learn more…

According to AllThingsD:

Some users should start seeing the option pop up in the next month or so. In practical terms, that means new and current users will find it easier to play songs immediately, because they won’t have to download or boot up special software. That’s particularly useful when people encounter Spotify links via social media, or “play buttons” the company has been pushing out to Yahoo and many other sites.

The browser-based version will be missing some capabilities that Spotify thinks are crucial, like the ability to play cached music without an Internet connection.

An even bigger shakeup to the service is the option to register without a Facebook account.

Spotify’s Facebook integration policy, which requires all users to login with their Facebook credentials, was implemented in September 2011, creating an immediate backlash. It continues to be one of the biggest complaints about the service.

Besides depriving the entire non-Facebook community of a chance to enjoy the Spotify experience, the publishing of playlists and “Currently Listening to” information directly into listeners’ Facebook newsfeeds made a lot of privacy-conscience users (and guilty-pleasure music fans) angry.

The company implemented the option to opt-out of Facebook updates soon after, but it still required a Facebook login to sign up for the service, cutting off people who don’t have Facebook or just don’t want the two accounts linked.

Last week that ban was lifted when a new option appeared at the bottom of Spotify’s registration page, letting customers register using an e-mail address.

A Spotify spokesperson told Billboard.biz that the current ability to create a new Spotify account with an email address “was just a small test of the user flow” and added that tests are “fairly standard practice, and allow us to innovate quickly, and to make sure that our users are enjoying the best possible experience.”

The free DriveScribe App provides a way to turn these devices from a hindrance into a help for students on the road. According to Mashable, the app “turns your phone into a ‘driving coach.’ Aimed in particular at helping those new drivers learn the rules-of-the-road, the app monitors speed, and blocks all texts, updates and calls while the car is in motion. It uses GPS, social media, real-time voice feedback and a jamming function to block texts and calls. The app will tell drivers to slow down if they’re going too fast.”

The device can operate without interfering with driving. Begin the app by tapping “start trip,” and then hit “end trip” when the drive is over. The phone can spend the rest of the ride sitting in a cup holder or on the passenger seat. Parents can receive updates that let them know if their teen has violated any roadway laws. Another incentive for teens to drive well is the built-in reward system. Drivers accrue points for being safe behind the wheel, and they can redeem these points for gift cards.

“The ability to take the very device that is distracting most teen drivers and turn it into something that not only coaches them but offers a path to rewards is a game changer,” says Will England, founder and CEO of DriveScribe. “While the app limits distractions and monitors performance, it also guides and encourages teens to drive more safely by rewarding smart driving. It’s a win-win: Parents get peace of mind and teens get great stuff when they drive well.”

Technology is another unavoidable expense in higher education. Computers with internet access, e-readers to accommodate digital textbooks and smartphones to stay in touch with home are now supply list staples. But students don’t have to break the bank with top-of-the-line gadgets. There’s a whole assortment of affordable devices that suit any student’s academic needs and budgets. USA Today compiled a list of devices that can be purchased on even the most meager work-study salary.

For a laptop, USA Today recommends the Lenovo B570:

At $329, it delivers decent performance at a very economical price. The 15.6-inch black laptop ships with an Intel Pentium dual-core processor, 4GB of RAM (system memory) and 320GB hard drive. Along with its full-size keyboard for comfortable typing, the B570 includes a built-in fingerprint reader, DVD burner, webcam, three USB 2.0 ports, media card reader and HDMI port to connect to a television, monitor or projector. A copy of Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit edition) is preinstalled, upgradeable to Windows 8 this fall.

With universities going green, digital textbooks are becoming a more popular option than their printed predecessors. E-readers aren’t just a convenience anymore; they’re a necessity. Opting for a tablet that includes a range of features far beyond just reading is the preference of multitasking students. The iPad is the most popular tablet on the market, but with a price tag that starts at $499, it hovers above most undergraduate budgets. As an alternative, USA Today suggests the Toshiba Thrive:

From $339.99, [the Thrive is] a 10.1-inch Android tablet with 16GB of memory and numerous connection options along its rim — including a full-size USB port (to add a thumbdrive, external keyboard or hard drive), SD card slot (to view photos, listen to music or play videos stored on it) and HDMI output (to connect to a high-definition source, such as a HDTV).

Staying in touch with their parents is another requirement for college students. Smartphones are a must-have, and there are a number of affordable options.

USA Today recommends several Android phones, including “the Samsung Galaxy S 4G (free with new 2-year T-Mobile plan), LG Lucid 4G LTE ($49.99 on 2-year Verizon Wireless plan), LG Viper 4G LTE ($79.99 on 2-year Sprint plan) or Motorola Atrix HD ($99 on 2-year AT&T plan).”

With the app, you can access live streaming coverage of all events (over 3,500 hours), video on demand and alternate camera angles that bring the games to life in real time. The app works on both Apple and Android phones and tablets.

If you’re only interested in the high stakes games, there’s a section called Gold Zone, where you can watch only the gold medal events. Navigating the menus is simple, and you’re able to filter events by sport and even bookmark your favorite events and receive push notifications for start times.

The app is completely free, but the only catch is you have to be a cable TV subscriber that gets both MSNBC and CNBC in order to use the live streaming feature.

If you don’t have cable TV, you can use NBC’s alternative Olympics app instead. It doesn’t have live streaming and videos on demand, but video highlights, news, results, schedules and in-depth information on Team USA are all included.

Now stop avoiding Twitter event spoilers, and enjoy the games like a front row London spectator.

The system, which comes complete with MS Office 2010, has come under fire from both Mozilla and Google for the limits it places on web browsing.

In a Wednesday blog post, Harvey Anderson, Mozilla’s general counsel, argued that “Windows on ARM – as currently designed – restricts user choice, reduces competition and chills innovation.”

“Windows on ARM prohibits any browser except for Internet Explorer from running in the privileged ‘Windows Classic’ environment,” Anderson wrote. “In practice, this means that only Internet Explorer will be able to perform many of the advanced computing functions vital to modern browsers in terms of speed, stability, and security to which users have grown accustomed. Given that IE can run in Windows on ARM, there is no technical reason to conclude other browsers can’t do the same.”

Google released a statement echoing Mozilla’s concerns.

“We’ve always welcomed innovation in the browser space across all platforms and strongly believe that having great competitors makes us all work harder,” Google said. “In the end, consumers and developers benefit the most from robust competition.”

Microsoft has yet to release a statement on the controversy.